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Fifteen minutes into the Llight, the hijackers: injured at least three
people, possibly killed one, forcibly breached the cockpit,
overpowered the captain and Lirst ofLicer. Mohamed Atta, an al-‐ AAL11 $light path from Boston to New York City
Qaeda member and licensed commercial pilot, took over the controls. Hijackingsummary
Air-‐trafLic controllers noticed the Llight was in distress when the crew
Date Tuesday, September 11, 2001
was no longer responding. They realized the Llight had been hijacked
when Mohammed Atta's announcements for passengers were Summary Terrorism hijacking
transmitted to air trafLic control. On board, Llight attendants Amy Site North Tower of the World Trade
Sweeney and Betty Ong contacted American Airlines, and provided Center, Manhattan, New York
information about the hijackers and injuries to passengers and crew. City, NY, USA
Passengers 76 (plus 5 hijackers)
The aircraft crashed into the North tower of the World Trade Center
Crew 11
at 08:46 local time. Many in the streets witnessed the strike; several
video recordings show the initial impact, the most well known being Fatalities 87 (plus 5 hijackers), and
approximately 1,600 (including
those recorded by Jules Naudet and Pavel Hlava. Before the hijacking
emergency workers) at the
was conLirmed, news agencies began to report on the incident and
North Tower of the World Trade
speculated that the crash had been an accident. The impact and
Center.
subsequent Lire caused the North Tower to collapse, 102 minutes
after the crash, which resulted in hundreds of additional casualties Survivors 0
due to the collapse of the tower. During the recovery effort at the Aircraft
type Boeing 767-‐223ER
World Trade Center site, workers recovered and identiLied dozens of Operator American Airlines
remains from Flight
11 victims, but many body fragments could not Registration N334AA (http://
be identiLied. registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry /
NNum _Results .aspx?
NNumbertxt =334AA)
Contents Flight origin Logan International Airport
Destination Los Angeles International
Airport
1 Flight
1.1 Boarding
1.3 Crash
2 Aftermath
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
Flight
The American Airlines Flight 11 aircraft was a Boeing 767-‐223ER delivered in 1987, registration number N334AA.
[1]
The capacity of the aircraft was 158
passengers , but the September 11 Llight carried 81
passengers and 11
crew
members. This was a light load at 51
percent capacity, but higher than the average load factor for Flight
11 on
[2]
Tuesday mornings of 39
percent in the months preceding September 11. The 11
crew members were Captain
John Ogonowski, First OfLicer Thomas McGuinness, and Llight attendants Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara
[3]
Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder, and Amy Sweeney.
[4]
In all, 92
people on board were killed, including David Angell (the creator and executive producer of the television
[5]
sitcom Frasier), his wife Lynn Angell, and actress Berry Berenson, the widow of Anthony Perkins. Family Guy
[6]
creator Seth MacFarlane had been scheduled to be on the Llight but arrived at the airport late. Actor Mark
[7]
Wahlberg was also scheduled to be on the Llight but canceled his ticket at the last minute. Actress Leighanne
Littrell, wife of Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell, had also previously been booked on the Llight, but like
[8]
Wahlberg , changed her plans last minute.
Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the attacks, and a fellow hijacker, Abdulaziz al-‐
Omari, arrived at Portland International Jetport at 05:41 Eastern Daylight Time
on September 11, 2001. They boarded Colgan Air Flight
5930, which was
scheduled to depart at 06:00 from Portland, Maine, and Lly to Boston. Both
hijackers had Lirst class tickets with a connecting Llight to Los Angeles; Atta
[2]
checked in two bags, Omari none. When they checked in, the Computer
Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) selected Atta for extra
[9]
luggage scrutiny, but he boarded without incident. The Llight from Portland
departed on time and arrived in Boston at 06:45. Three other hijackers, Waleed Atta (blue shirt) and Omari at
al-‐Shehri, Wail al-‐Shehri, and Satam al-‐Suqami, arrived at Logan Airport at Portland International Jetport,
06:45, having left their rental car in the airport parking facility. At 06:52, passing through security on the
Marwan al-‐Shehhi, the hijacker pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, made a call morning of 9/11
[2][10]
from a pay phone in Logan Airport to Atta's cell phone.
Since they were not given boarding passes for Flight
11 in Portland, Atta and Omari checked in and went through
[11]
security in Boston. In the rushed check-‐in after the Llight from Portland, airline ofLicials did not load Atta's bags
[12][13]
on Flight
11. Suqami, Wail al-‐Shehri, and Waleed al-‐Shehri also checked in for the Llight in Boston. Wail al-‐
[2]
Shehri and Suqami each checked one bag; Waleed al-‐Shehri did not check any bags. CAPPS selected all three for a
[14]
detailed luggage check. As the CAPPS' screening was only for luggage, the three hijackers did not undergo any
[15]
extra scrutiny at the passenger security checkpoint.
[10][16]
By 07:40, all Live hijackers were aboard the Llight, scheduled to depart at 07:45. Mohamed Atta sat in
business class seat 8D with Abdulaziz al-‐Omari in 8G and Suqami in 10B. Waleed al-‐Shehri and Wail al-‐Shehri sat in
[14]
Lirst class seats 2B and 2A. At 07:46, one minute behind schedule, the aircraft received clearance to push back
[17]
from Gate B32, and was cleared to taxi to the runway at 07:50. The aircraft began its takeoff run from Logan
[18][19]
International Airport at 07:59 from runway
4R.
Hijacking
The 9/11 Commission estimated that the hijacking began at
08:14, when the pilots stopped responding to requests from the
[10] "Okay, my name is Betty Ong. I'm [Flight
Boston Air Route TrafLic Control Center (Boston ARTCC). It is
believed that Waleed al-‐Shehri made the Lirst move. At 08:13:29,
as the aircraft was passing over central Massachusetts at 26,000
feet (7,900
m), the pilots responded to a request from Boston Attendant ] Number 3 on Flight
11. Our Number
1
ARTCC to make a 20-‐degree turn to the right. At 08:13:47,
Boston ARTCC told the pilots to ascend to a cruising altitude of
[19]
35,000 feet (11,000
m) but received no response. At 08:16, got stabbed . Our purser is stabbed . Nobody knows
[19]
the aircraft leveled off at 29,000 feet (8,800
m) and shortly
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Airlines_Flight_11&printable... 5.
November
2013
01:56:04
thereafter
American
Adeviated from1its
irlines
Flight
1
-‐scheduled path.
Wikipedia,
the
fBoston ARTCC made
ree
encyclopedia 4
[10]
who stabbed who and we can't even get up to
multiple attempts to talk to Flight
11 without reply, and at
08:21, the Llight stopped transmitting its Mode-‐C transponder
[19]
signal.
business class right now because nobody can
According to Llight attendants Amy Sweeney and Betty Ong, who
contacted American Airlines during the hijacking, the hijackers
had stabbed Llight attendants Karen Martin and Barbara
[21] breathe . And we can't get to the cockpit, the door
Arestegui and slashed the throat of passenger Daniel Lewin.
[22][23]
Lewin, an American-‐Israeli Internet entrepreneur , had
served as an ofLicer in the elite Sayeret Matkal special operations won't open."
[24][25]
unit of the Israel Defense Forces. Lewin was seated in 9B,
[26]
and Suqami was directly behind him in 10B. The 9/11 Flight attendant Betty Ong to the American
Commission suggested that Suqami may have stabbed and killed
[10]
Lewin after he attempted to stop the hijacking. Lewin was [20]
[25][27]
Airlines emergency line.
believed to be the Lirst fatality in the 9/11 attacks. During
a four-‐minute call to the American Airlines operations center,
Ong provided information about lack of communicationwith the
[28]
cockpit, lack of access to the cockpit, and passenger injuries. She provided the seat locations of the hijackers,
[28]
which later helped investigators to determine their identities.
location and heading to Llight control. Boston ARTCC bypassed Problems playing this 1ile? See media help.
standard protocols and directly contacted the North American
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Airlines_Flight_11&printable... 5.
November
2013
01:56:04
[10]
American
Airlines
Flight
11
-‐
Wikipedia,
the
free
encyclopedia 5
Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) in Rome, New York. NEADS
called on two F-‐15 Lighter jets at Otis Air Force Base in Mashpee, Massachusetts, to intercept. OfLicials at Otis spent a
[10]
few minutes getting authorization for the Lighters to take off. Atta completed the Linal turn towards Manhattan at
[19] [10][30]
08:43. The order to dispatch the Lighters at Otis was given at 08:46, and the F-‐15s took off at 08:53,
roughly seven minutes after American Airlines Flight
11 had already crashed into the North Tower of the World
Trade Center. Of the four hijacked aircraft on 9/11, the nine minutes of advance notiLicationabout the hijacking of
[32]
Flight
11 was the most time that NORAD had to respond before the aircraft crashed into its target.
Crash
[34]
At 08:46:30, Mohamed Atta intentionally crashed American Airlines
Flight 11 into the northern facade of the North Tower (Tower
1) of the
[19]
“ We are in rapid descent ...
”
impression
– he looked like he was low!
going down, but we didn't hear any
Jules Naudet $ilmed the impact of mechanical difLiculty. We couldn't
Flight
11 as it crashed into the Ligure out why an American Airlines
North Tower of the World Trade plane would be so low in downtown —Amy Sweeney,6light attendantaboard Flight
[33]
Center. Manhattan. We sort of expected him
to veer off and go into the Hudson. 11, moments before the crash
But he just rose a little bit, his
altitude, leveled off, and he was headed straight for the Trade Center. So just before he got to the Trade Center, it
seemed as though he gained power. We were just watching this airplane on target for the World Trade Center. All of
[36]
a sudden, boom! He disappears into the Trade Center."
The damage caused to the North Tower destroyed any means of escape at the impact zone or above it. All stairwells
[37] [37]
and elevators from the 92nd
Lloor up were rendered impassable, trapping 1,344
people. According to the
Commission Report, hundreds were killed instantly by the impact; the rest were trapped and died from the
[38]
subsequent Lire and smoke, the eventual collapse, or (in some cases) after jumping or falling from the building.
[39]
Elevator shafts channeled burning jet fuel through the building. At least one elevator shaft carried burning fuel
[40]
downward, exploding on the 77th
Lloor, the 22nd
Lloor, and at street level on the West Side Lobby.
Yeah . This just in. You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. Landing gear from Flight
11
That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconLirmed reports this morning found at West and Rector
that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN [41]
Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our streets
sources and trying to Ligure out exactly what happened, but clearly something
relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the
island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center.[45]
Later, in an on-‐air phone call from his ofLice at the CNN New York bureau, CNN vice-‐president of Linance Sean
[45]
Murtagh reported that a large passenger commercial jet had hit the World Trade Center. Eventually, other
television networks interrupted regular broadcasting with news of the crash. President George W. Bush was
arriving at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Initial news reports speculated that the crash
had been an accident until United Airlines Flight 175, another Los Angeles–bound Boeing 767, crashed into the
South Tower at about 09:03.
Aftermath
After the crash, the North Tower burned and collapsed 102 minutes after the
impact at 10:28 A.M. Although the impact itself caused extensive structural
damage, the long-‐lasting Lire ignited by jet fuel was blamed for the structural
[47][48][49]
failure of the tower. In addition to the aircraft passengers and
building occupants, hundreds of rescue workers also died when the tower
[50]
collapsed. Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on Lloors 101–105 of
the World Trade Center One, lost 658
employees, considerably more than any
[51]
The names of Flight 11's crew are
other employer.
located on Panel N-‐74 of the
National September 11 Memorial's Rescue workers at the World Trade Center site began to discover body
North Pool. The passenger names fragments from Flight
11 victims within days of the attack. Some workers found
are inscribed on that panel and bodies strapped to airplane seats and discovered the body of a Llight attendant
[46]
with her hands bound, suggesting the hijackers might have used plastic
four other adjacent ones. [52][53]
handcuffs. Within a year, medical examiners had identiLied the remains
[54]
of 33
victims who had been on board Flight
11. They identiLied two other Flight
11 victims, including the lead
[55][56]
Llight attendant Karen Martin, after body fragments were discovered near Ground Zero in 2006. In April
Suqami's passport survived the crash and landed in the street below. Soaked in jet fuel, it was picked up by a
passerby who gave it to a New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective shortly before the South Tower
[60][61]
collapsed. Investigators retrieved Mohamed Atta's luggage, which had not been loaded onto the Llight. In it
they found Omari's passport and driver's license, a videocassette for a Boeing
757 Llight simulator, a folding knife,
[13]
and pepper spray. In a recording, a few months later in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, took
responsibility for the attack. The attack on the World Trade Center exceeded even bin Laden's expectations: he had
[62]
expected only the Lloors above the plane strikes to collapse. The Llight recorders for Flight
11 and Flight
175
[63]
were never found.
After the attacks, the Llight number for Llights on the same route with the same takeoff time was changed to
American Airlines Flight
25. These Llights now use a Boeing 737 instead of a Boeing 767. An American Llag is Llown
[64]
on the jet bridge of gate B32 from which Flight
11 departed Logan Airport.
On April 26, 2013, a piece of machinery from a Boeing was discovered wedged between two buildings at Park Place,
[65]
near where other landing gear parts were found.
At the National September 11 Memorial, the names of the 87 victims of Flight 11 are inscribed on the North Pool, on
[66]
Panels N-‐1 and N-‐2, and Panels N-‐74 – N-‐76.
See also
References
abcd
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Transportation Safety Board. March 7, 2006. Archived National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
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AA11.victims.html). CNN. 2001. Archived from the AA11.victims.html). CNN. Archived from the original
9/11" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-‐bin/article.cgi?f=/c/
'Family Guy'; A 30-‐Year -‐Old's Cartoon Hit Makes An pain | Flight 5191: Stories from Sept. 2-‐21, 2006" (http://
comeback.html?pagewanted =all). The New York TImes. 9. ^ "Extract: 'We have some planes'" (http://
7. ^ Mark Wahlberg sorry for saying he would have News. July 23, 2004. Retrieved May 22, 2008.
www.foxnews.com/entertainment /2012/01/18/mark-‐
$light-‐3/)
ab
web.archive .org/web/20080511160550 /http:// 13. ^ "Excerpts From Statement by Sept. 11 Commission
from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved May 25, politics/17ptext .html). The New York Times. June 17, 2004.
ab
11. ^ Kehaulani Goo, Sara (February 13, 2005). "Papers Offer 14. ^ "Investigating 9–11
– The doomed $lights" (http://
A19784-‐2005Feb 12.html). The Washington Post. Chronicle. July 23, 2004. Retrieved May 22, 2008.
statement _3.pdf) (PDF). National Commission on Terrorist Bureauof Investigation. United States Department of
Attacks Upon the United States. Archived (http:// Justice. September 2001. Archived from the original
statement _3.pdf) from the original on May 28, 2008. 17. ^ "Transcripts of Flight 11 and Flight 175" (http://
reconstructs horror, calculated attacks on planes" (http:// journal/09142007 /transcript 1.html). Bill Moyers Journal.
abcdef ghi
19. ^ "Flight Path Study
– American Airlines web/20080427204235 /http://www.pbs.org/moyers/
Flight 11" (http://web.archive .org/ journal/09142007 /transcript 1.html) from the original on
Flight _%20Path_%20Study_AA11.pdf) (PDF). National 21. ^ "Excerpt: A travel day like any other until some
Transportation Safety Board. February 19, 2002. passengers left their seats" (http://
2009. Retrieved May 25, 2008. Times. July 23, 2004. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
Sept. 11 attacks" (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ "First Victim Died A Hero On Flt. 11 Ex-‐Israeli commando
id/5315883 /). MSNBC. June 28, 2004. Retrieved May 23, tried to halt unfolding hijacking" (http://
forbes/2007/0423/068.html). Forbes. Retrieved May 23, 26. ^ Eggen, Dan (March 2, 2002). "Airports Screened Nine of
24. ^ Hersch, Seymour M. (Oct. 29, 2001). "Watching the Inquiry into Revelation ". The Washington Post.
Warheads : The Risks to Pakistans Nuclear Arsenal", The 27. ^ Ron Jager, Danny Lewin: The First Victim Of 9/11
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Virginia (March 7, 2006). "USA v. Zacarias Moussaoui – world/2001/oct/17/september 11.usa). The Guardian
Justice. Retrieved May 22, 2008. world/2001/oct/17/september 11.usa) from the original
Flight 11 at 8:37 a.m., nine minutes before the crash. This civil airliner crash since 1950. The History Press. p. 326.
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American
Airlines
Flight
11
-‐
Wikipedia,
the
free
encyclopedia 17
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names.911memorial.org/#lang=en_
External links
External images
The Final 9/11 Commission Report (http://
Picture of aircraft Pre 9/11 (http://
www.airliners .net/open.$ile/0188160 /M/)
www.gpoaccess.gov/911/index.html)
neverforget911.org/americanairlinesLlight11.aspx)
explaining that all aircraft are accounted for, September 11, 2001
Categories: 2001 Lires 2001 in New York Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 767
Airliner accidents and incidents in New York Airliner accidents and incidents caused by hijacking
American Airlines accidents and incidents Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2001
Airliner accidents and incidents involving deliberate crashes Disasters in New York City
Logan International Airport Filmed deaths Islamist terrorism in the United States September 11 attacks
Terrorist incidents in the United States in 2001 World Trade Center Aircraft hijackings in the United States
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